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Everyone Else is a Returnee – Chapter 86: You, I, Strangers – 5

After finishing off all the dragonkin within the cavern, Yu IlHan collected their dead bodies and checked on his injuries.
No matter how great his concealment was, it was impossible to finish off all of them without an injury, as seen by the fact that his cheeks were slightly burnt and his shoulders had frost on them.

“I have a fire-specialized armor, so should I make an ice one next? I will swap them according to the situation.”`

There was no need to be bent on making high ranked equipments. In the future, Yu IlHan’s enemies would have their own attributes, so if he could prepare several equipments that specialized in each attribute, then what would he fear!

[It sounds like you’re getting spec’ed up for a raid.]
“*ehem*”

Flinching at Erta’s sharp comment, he still managed to calmly treated his injuries. Of course, these were all at a level that could be solved with bloodrink and transcendent regeneration. This was the reason why Yu IlHan could achieve easy victories against 3rd classes even without rest.

“I think I really need to do something with the dragon’s blood later. It will definitely become something damned good, perhaps better than the bloodrink from troll’s blood.”
[Well the effect may be damned good, but your life may be doomed.]
“Well, I just need to raise my extreme poison resistance.”

Yu IlHan Erta had their normal, idiotic banter and was resting from the battle fatigue, when Reta, the observer sighed a little.

[If I had abilities like yours, then it wouldn’t just have been a dream to save Dareu.]

Reta’s voice contained deep resentment and regret at her own lack of ability.

Yu IlHan wondered what he should tell her. You’ve never been alone for a thousand years so shut up – and retort? Or console her?

Judging that they were both wrong, Yu IlHan just licked his lips. Although the counterpart made a mistake in words, retorting about it meant that he would be making the same mistake.
Instead, he said this.

Reta’s voice contained a hint of hope again. This was perhaps the first time Yu IlHan had chosen the correct choice of words, as he never ever chosen a correct option even in games due to his lack of interaction with other people. This was a milestone of growth that would have been impossible without Lita or Erta.

They left the cavern and charged throughout the wide mountains. Did everything become like this after continuous Great Cataclysms? Dareu had a bigger everything than Earth. Higher mountains, bigger trees, and even bigger flowers.

“Interestingly, there are no monsters around here.”
[Although they may be nothing to you, the aura of 3rd class dragonkin are supposed to be frightening. To the point that it would be impossible for non-intelligent monsters to resist.]

Yu IlHan had no tracking ability, but since Reta could find exactly where the elves were hiding, he ran in a straight line without the need to side track. At one moment, Yu IlHan also succeeded in sensing the presences of the elves on his own.

“Mm?”
“What is it”

That was also when he heard voices. The place where the elves were hiding became clear. They had dug out nearby trees and lived inside them. The number was 13, and they were all skin and bones.

“No, I thought the alarm magic trembled for a moment.”
“But it’s not broken. Dragons would never use such a soft method.”

It wasn’t that they had perfectly sensed Yu IlHan’s presence, but their magic seemed to have registered a moment of unfamiliarity. Realizing again that magic wasn’t to be looked down upon, Yu IlHan dropped himself in the middle of the trees.

“I can’t feel anything. Save up energy rather than speaking. There’s still time until the ones who went out to hunt food to come back.”
“Shit, how much longer do we have to live like this?”

Seeing how they didn’t notice Yu IlHan even though he was right in front of them, it seemed like the alarm magic only amounted to that much.

Since something may go wrong, Yu IlHan first checked their danger levels, and confirmed that they were all below level 50 or just above, before releasing his concealment.
In fact, he felt quite proud being able to dispel his own concealment, but he didn’t show it on the outside. Erta would tease him if he did.

“What!?”
“I, it’s a human!”
“Humans should all have died. Isn’t it a dragon’s transformation?”

All 13 elves in that area instantly went into panic. The elves hiding within the trees all rushed out and attempted to escape without the slightest hesitation.
It would be a lie to say that he didn’t feel bad for them, but unlike his impression, Yu IlHan moved ruthlessly. He caught each one of them and smacked them before throwing them to one side.

“I will finish you without pain if you stay still!”
“*Hiccup!”
[That’s a complete villain’s line!]

Nodding at Erta’s comment, Yu IlHan changed his line.

“Oh, you’re right. Then. It will be over in a flash so just close your eyes. *creepy laugh*”
[That’s even worse! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you!]
“You realized that now?”

Yu IlHan moved busily even under Erta’s scolding after she realized his intentions. No matter how much the elves struggled, they were dancing on the top of Yu IlHan’s palm, so it took only 18 seconds for the situation to clear up.

The elves that were thrown against the tree cried tears of sadness as if they had lost all hope, while looking straight at Yu IlHan. The scene was strangely… erotic.
Even though there were more men than women here, how come he thought of an ominous scene in an ominous anime…(T/N: *cough* boku *cough* no *cough* pico *cough). Yu IlHan cursed himself for thinking that it was worth coming here just for this scene, but perhaps due to his higher curse resistance, nothing happened.

“Wh, who are you!”
“Is this the legendary polymorph? D, damned dragons……!”
“Ki, kill us! We will never leak the positions of our colleagues!”

Even though he had done nothing other than just making them stay put, he ended up learning that there were others. Yu IlHan seriously considered becoming a detective, and spoke to them.

“It’s up to you to believe it, but I am a human that’s hunting dragonkin in Dareu continent after my interests coincided with that of Reta Kar’iha.”
“Reta Kar’iha!? The last hero of the continent……”
“You really are human?”

Their eyes all widened. There was no way they could obediently believe in Yu IlHan’s words after their lifestyle until now.

“No, we can’t believe you. You’re a dragon!”
“The ones that made Reta Kar’iha like that are also you dragons! We will never believe in you!”
“Okay, then don’t. Though, I did have something to ask, it’s fine since I confirmed that there are intelligent species surviving.

Yu IlHan’ turned around to leave. Due to his clean entrance and a clean exit, the elves instead became confused.

“Didn’t you come here because you wanted something!?”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to kill us all at the same time when our colleagues come back!”
“It will never go your way!”

Even though Yu IlHan had spoken nothing, they revealed everything about themselves.

When he really tried to leave without doing anything, the elves instead became confused and grabbed him.

“W, wait! If you really aren’t a dragon but a human, then I want to hear your reason in coming here!”
“Heh!”

Just as planned.

[It’s not that you’re doing something bad, but how can you have such an evil smile…]
[Splendid communication skills.]

Vaguely listening to Reta’s praises that didn’t suit her personality, Yu IlHan turned around towards the elves. It was good that his helmet prevented the elves from seeing his expression.

“I got a request from Reta Kar’iha. She thought that she was the last elf, but now that there are survivors here, she was wondering why it is so.”
“How can a human……”
“Reta Kar’iha is dead. How can she……?”
“Through some methods, I’m accompanying her thoughts. Do I have to prove this? Would it be enough proof if I show you that the magic formation the empire created is controlled by me?”

There was no better proof. With Reta’s light test, the elves all instantly acknowledged Yu IlHan in their hearts. They knew very well about Reta Kar’iha, their last hero.

“We couldn’t help her because we were too weak. It really is a sad thing.”
“But we were scared of death. We could only hide like what they……”
“So, how are you all alive?”

Yu IlHan asked them again. Even though he thought that there was a huge secret involved, one of the elves gave an answer without hesitation.

“The people that called themselves ‘the Garden of Sunset’ hid us, saying that our world is not fated to end yet……”

What the… what was that childish name that sounded like a common guild name in a game he played in elementary school? Yu IlHan became confused, but Erta seemed like she had an inkling.

[The Garden of Sunset is a group of higher existences that claim that they have the power to read the future, and do mysterious things. Well, they don’t openly oppose us like the Destruction Demon Army and the Army of Brilliant LIght, but they move around in such a strange fashion to the point that we’d rather have them openly oppose us.]
“Hmm, so it’s like a cult.”
[This matter is the same. Like how they are Transcenders, it would be difficult for them to directly influence a lower world, so they should have contacted the exceptional ones.]
“Thanks. You’re really the best, Ertawagon.”

At that point, Yu IlHan was becoming more and more unsettled.

The reason was very simple.
Like what Erta said just now, the ones ‘belonging’ to the Garden of Sunset must be lower existences, but not elves, yet strong enough to the point that higher existences chose to contact them. However, as far as he knew, there was only one kind that fit the criteria near here.

Well, until a moment ago, it did.

“So, it was a dragonkin that hid you here?”

The ones that brought the elves to ruin was definitely dragonkin. However, if there was anyone that could protect the elves away from their sight? That also cannot be anyone but the dragonkin.

“Yes. The tens of dragonkin that live near here! They said that they are under orders of Garden of Sunset and helped us hide.”
“Oooh! So it really was like that!”

They’re doomed!

“I knew it felt a little off to kill them!”
[And here, you killed them ruthlessly too.]

Of course, he had no regrets. If he had to check for ally or enemy for every monster he met, then he would be the first one to die. Moreover, there was no way he could have imagined that dragonkin were protecting the elves.

He wasn’t trying to give himself indulgence. From long before Earth met its Great Cataclysm, Yu IlHan had long since set his resolve on living selfishly. From the moment he was left on Earth with just Lita.

It was just that he became slightly worried that other things may interfere his smooth sailing situation.

“Won’t I end up going against those Garden of Sunset guys at this rate?”
[They cannot touch you directly. No, they said they could read the future, so they perhaps already knew that the dragonkin will be killed by you. There’s nothing for you to worry about. It will just be a pain for us.]
“Then that’s fine.”

Yu IlHan shrugged his shoulders. Now that he had massacred the ones belonging to the Garden of Sunset, there was no way he could know what they were up to, nor did he care about it.
The only objective Yu IlHan had when coming over to Dareu was to obliterate the dragonkin! There was no need for him to take interest in other matters. He just had to fulfill his original objective.

“Then just keep hiding here.”
“Wh, what about you?”
“Well, I have no intentions in leaking where you live, so don’t worry. Oh, but if you tell anyone that you saw me, then I’ll definitely kill you.”
“*Hiccup!*”

Yu IlHan answered the elves and turned back before asking Reta if it was fine now.
Reta said she was satisfied.

[Even if it’s to let them live in peace, we need to kill all the remaining dragonkin. Please help, Yu IlHan-nim.]
“Leave it to me.

Although he was a rookie, wasn’t it Yu IlHan’s field of expertise as a deathgod?

Reta acquired more motivation after learning that there were still members of her own race left. Yu IlHan left once again with her and Erta, who was facepalming while thinking about what the Garden of Sunset was up to again.

Even though he had predicted that he would be facing 4th class dragons before he managed to finish the 3rd class dragonkin off, regardless of whether Yu IlHan was obliterating dragonkin or not, or whether he was simply walking around the continent, the dragonkin in Dareu did not notice Yu IlHan’s hunt.
Nothing happened to the formation either. The journey was smooth to the point that Yu IlHan was slightly disappointed.

17 days had passed.
Yu IlHan had finished killing 10 thousand 3rd class that the class advancement quest required him to, and he finally resolved to go against the 4th class dragonkin.

Author’s notes

Pervert Yu IlHan who now becomes disappointed if the journey is without plot twists.

Pervert Yu IlHan who now has a higher level of communication ability thanks to the accompaniment(?) of the angels.

Just as planned – the origin of evil smiles.

The higher existence organisations mentioned until now are the Destruction Demon Army, Army of Brilliant Light, Garden of Sunset, and lastly, the Heaven’s Army.

Many readers worry about getting experience and the difference in level between MC and people of Earth. It’s very natural for you to think so. IlHan is so monstrous. BUUT! You should realize from the experience patterns, but it’s not that higher levels give you loads of experience. That is also why it’s harder to level up as you become higher levels.
For example, a level 176 dragonkin give you less than 60 million exp, but a level 109 troll boss gave 8 million. In other words, You’d have killed a lv 176 dragonkin if you killed 7~8 troll bosses. Moreover, as seen from the story, IlHan started hunting from dragonkin that were just above 100, no? In other words, he didn’t earn that much experience. Now it’s different though!! 4th classes give 100 millions minimum!

I was thinking that Yu Ilhan might just end up taking the Elves with him back to Earth. I mean once the Second Cataclysm happens I think they will naturally end up deposited on Earth when the Dungeon breaks down.

I want Ilhan to forge Reta a new body through Blacksmithing. Then infuse her Life Force into it. After that he has her lead the elves and he starts training them up in the two months frozen time to be fighting masters, lol. Afterward Vanguard now has its own personal attack Corps.

That’ll be so cool… I was always waiting for golems or automatons to be forged, though just as a guard for Vanguard. If that does happen, I demand a pet Orochi as well. Of course, the best part will be the world’s reaction towards them. Vanguard will become a clan after all.

I’m just guessing but the original Orochi being created by the fusion of the Traps might of given Yu Ilhan an idea about making a golem in a similar manner.

I don’t think Vanguard really needs an actual Guardian considering it is protected by magic, but I would really enjoy Yu Ilhan having a pet or two. One body for the Orochi and then he manages to Evolve the Sacred Flame to the point it can make its own body too.

For the Orochi’s body I hope it is adorable but able to change size to bad ass mode. That would be freaking amazing. I wonder if hes going to end up getting any other Clear Thoughts in the Life Force. I wonder if Yu Ilhan will do something with the Life Force and will of that 4th class mage he killed.

Since there was a comment on rich people in the previous chapters, I thought I would like to add a point regarding the money earned by an ability user.
Yu IlHan managed to earn 320,000 USD by selling the dismanteled corpses of Direwolves with the level around 20~35 (back in chapter 11-13). They were in a pack but they were finished off pretty quickly. The government gave more than their actual worth to try rope him in. The materials would be worth a lot more for the first few days of the Great Cataclysm, also including the fact that the door to other worlds weren’t open yet. The economy was different back then too. However, this still shows how much one potentially earn by just an hour of hunting. The level 30s back then would be the equivalent of 2nd Class monsters but the abilitie users are more than capable of hunting them as long as they’re in a party.
The unique ranked weapons in Vanguard are 5 million USD, something the ability users could earn with a few weeks of hunting, not to mention how cheap the rare ranked weapons would be. In that sense, money isn’t that much of a problem for them at all.
I feel like I’m posting this on the wrong chapter but whatever.

now you mention it.
for MMORPG, items(rare) really expensive if you try buy it from other player at early game release. it are common sense.

and how money flow at RPG novel (ah xianxia and Xuanhuan also same) still mystery for me. like MC’s money must be stack, because he never spend it on anything big but keep collecting money. isnt he also destroying market price and future of earth blacksmith or mana crafter? like
Warior A: ‘with 100k won i can buy Vanguard weapon, why i mush buy this expensive trash (best product of blacksmith or mana crafter B)’

Vanguard limits each person to two items and I don’t remember it saying anything about maintenance/replacements. The only way that Vanguard would really hurt the market for other blacksmiths/enchanters is if A) the two items were everything the person needed/wanted and B) you could get maintenance/replacements. You need more than two items so A doesn’t really apply and B is unknown (to me atm anyway).

So it’d basically be like “You can buy your two items from Vanguard but I’ll charge what I like for everything else you want”. I’m no economics major but I’d be very surprised if a store that undercut their competition but doesn’t supply a majority of the demand could force their competition to lower their prices too. Sure there would be some pressure from customers but that is always there.

Personally I don’t think Vanguard will ruin the market overall for a few reasons. One is what if your weapon from Vanguard breaks. You can’t really go and buy a new one from Vanguard. Another part is Vanguard only sells out of Korea. Not everyone has 5 million Won to use on a weapon and also the plane trip. The last and biggest problem is even with Yu Ilhan’s skills there is a limit to the materials he has. Ilhan can’t make two items per every person in the world even with the amount he has collected..

The biggest thing though is if Vanguard doesn’t distribute its stupidly awesome weapons the Earth isn’t going to last long enough for decent weapon smiths to level up. Also even if Yu Ilhan doesn’t sell his weapons there is still competition for Earths blacksmiths in the form of just buying from other worlds or earning it in quests.

Although the weapons do break, you can always get a normal blacksmith to repair it. This would extend the time for usage by quite a bit before it really does become trash. I suppose after a few months, everyone who has been diligently hunting will end up with broken weapons though. A plane trip is worth nothing compared to 5 million dollars (should be dollars).
Also, while this is a big industry, there is actually only a small portion of people who can fight (mentioned in earlier chapters). Compared to world population it’s still almost a hundred million though. However, that’s only because of those people in it for money, the untalented etc.
Those are the kind of customers those ‘so-called-top-rated’ blacksmiths would be left with. They would probably continue with their job but the difference would be that they can’t make a killing out of their weapons anymore. Just a higher than average pay but not anything amazing.
I’m not really supporting any one side so I might sound confusing so I apologize for that.

I’m a bit confused so I’ll just write this anyway. The only the two weapons limit does is really just stop merchants from conveniently buying and selling. In reality, there are only a few barriers stopping them. The only thing you need are acquaintances to buy them for you. Friends, family etc. You can even hire someone for an appropriate amount of money. Merchants can’t sell on Earth but that won’t stop them from selling in other worlds. There is just a limit on the number of acquaintances.

I think the major thing that probably stops people from trying to abuse using acquaintances is if Yu Ilhan catches wind of it you would immediately be black listed. That’s not to say no one will try it. Just that the long term cost seems like a bad idea.

Another problem I can imagine for the acquaintances thing is if they buy for you that means they can never own their own Vanguard Weapons. While money is nice there is no one else who will sell you Vanguard quality things.

As Earth evolves the value of lower class materials with diminish with time because there will be more easily available and higher grade materials on the market. Since it’s evolving abnormally quickly there are a lot more 2nd class materials out there and soon to be 3rd class. Thus to make enough money to buy Vanguard’s Standard weapons people will either have to hunt A LOT of 1st class monsters or take risks by hunting 2nd/3rd class monsters.

Ilhan might have gotten that much money for the Direwolves because the army desperately needed materials for armor at the time. It was the beginning of the apocalypse and they needed to fit themselves with armor thus that was the “market price” because the demand was so huge (every country around the world).

Erta did point out at the time part of the reason why the Korean government gave Ilhan so much money to start with for the Wild Dog carcasses was desperation but another part was to try and establish a favorable relationship with Yu Ilhan early on. Considering the strength he showed it would be stupid not to give him an amazingly good deal to try and encourage him to come to them again in the future.

I would say I don’t think the value of monster by products is ever going to disappear. They just have too many uses. They can be used to reinforce buildings in preparation against monster waves and rampages. They can be used to make weapons for newly rising First Classes as the Younger generation starts growing. Be used for practice in making weapons. Things are going to keep being damaged so reinforcing with monster materials is never a bad idea.

I think erta just implied that they ‘saw’ someone killing dragons as a premonition so i dont think they know its mc a conclement that even god was unable to see through idont think some random dragons will be able to either

It would be interesting if Dareu was actually destroyed and made abandoned to be prepared as a hunting ground for Yu Ilhan. If that is the case the reason the Dragons were told to keep some of the Elves safe might be so they can become Yu Ilhan’s subordinates in the future.

I agree with Yash though that they probably couldn’t ‘see’ the identity of Yu Ilhan, but it is kind of hard to hide the results he gets. Kind of like Susanoo. No one knew who or what he was, but they could see Spears flying from nowhere and piercing everything.

That seems… Doable, lol. I theorize that at some point he will come across a hundred or so fourth class Dragons and use his Hourglass to freeze time and kill them in the Frozen time. The hourglass feels like it will definitely play some kind of role in this class up.